Imagine a truly just community. What does it look like? What does it feel like?
A just city is one where everyone has a safe, decent place to call home. Where no one dies of hypothermia because they have nowhere warm to go in the winter. Where no child is bouncing from school to school because they have no stable address.
Many factors stand in the way of our city becoming a just one. One of those factors is lack of affordable housing. But we can do something about that. We can begin moving our city toward a biblical vision of justice by providing enough homes for people to live in: safe, clean, affordable, just homes.
Back to Isaiah 65: verses 21 and 22 tell us that in the new Heaven and new Earth, those who build houses will also dwell in them. Those who work the land will also eat its fruits. Those who labor and toil will enjoy the product of their work. This is part of the vision of biblical justice.
As we’ve already seen, too many of those who do the physical work to build houses in Washington, DC can’t afford to live in them. Many of those who cook and serve at restaurants can’t afford to eat there. Those who labor in this city to make it function struggle to find an affordable place to call home within the city limits. If we are to live in a just city, we have to address the affordability of housing.
Our city’s need for affordable housing is inseparable from our call to biblical justice.
